Visiting the Ocean ...

Spent the weekend at the beach. 

This was my view for a few quiet magical hours. 

I have a great beach chair and a brought little Dexter and 

he dug holes in the sand while I watched the ocean.

I had the full intention of sketching while I was at the beach
but some how the experience needed all of my attention.
So I let my art supplies stay in my art bag
and I just sat a listened to the waves.

Weekly Sketch Book

A new week...a new journal Sketch Book page.  This week I've started the page in a new way...by adding some color and some left over bits from some decorative labels.  The date stamp is an old stamp I got from my favorite dollar store...Daiso. Its been hanging out in my studio in a dark drawer for years. It's time that it found the light of day and was put to an artistic purpose.    So here we are at the beginning of a new week. Let's see how the week unfolds.

By mid week I had added numbers and some gesso to cover up some smudges that made it hard to read the numbers. I kept removing color and ink and suddenly I saw this little clown face emerging from day 21. So I just went with it. The little bird is from a series of stickers I got earlier this year from a company called Typo.

By week's end we all took a trip to Cayucos, California to listen to the waves of the ocean and get some much needed rest. I added that to this week using cut out letters from one of the brochures I picked up on our trip.

Art is ...

I almost always carry my camera with me on trips.  I love to take photos.  My dad is a photographer and he taught me to always be prepared with a camera and notebook.  You just never know when something really cool will happen. 

Looking,  waiting and watching...is something I love to do on trips.

In the photo above, I was in San Francisco hanging out with friends and we turned the corner and this mural was there in all its glory.

Big Juicy Journal: Learning to Love my handwriting

This is one of my big messy pages from my Big Juicy Journal. I'm learning to love my handwriting. I used to hate my handwriting until someone said it looked like graffiti tags. That one comment made me see my writing in a new way.  I started to see the slopes and the curves of my penmanship as part of my creative expression. So now I can't say I love my handwriting but I don't hate it and each day I create in my journal I learn to love it more.

Juicy Soul Retreat

The Juicy Soul Retreat was so much fun. One of the things I love about journaling is the freedom to swing out and play. Some of my best techniques have come for experimenting in my journal. The Juicy Soul Retreat is a group event where we all create in our journals and experiment together.

Andrea and I guide our group through the process but there is a point where everyone lets go and some amazing things get created.

Every Retreat we give out goodie bags of art supplies and little surprising bits to use in their journals.





The first half of the day was experimenting with 9 Journaling Techniques for creating juicy backgrounds. Everyone had a chance to try them out on big pieces of paper and we rotated around the room working on each others pages. In the end we all had great backgrounds to use in our journals in the future.

Lots and lots a yummy supplies.

We all need a little snack from time to time to keep the creative juices flowing.

Our Next Juicy Soul Retreat is July 28, 2013



Weekly Sketch Book

This weeks Sketch Book journal has been really rewarding.   I've been journaling in little bits of time in the morning and evening before bed.   I love looking back to see the special moments of the week.

This was my page at the begining of the week.

 

 

By weeks end...the pages got much happier.  

Journal Pages ... Birds

Journal Pages...Dresses

I found a dress form in a magazine. It was an advertisement for fabric and I fell in love with the various shapes and possibilities of creating dresses from my journal pages. This dress is made from a page out of my Big Juicy Journal.  I used ink and my craft paints to add color to the background. I used lots of gesso for the white circles. The circles where made with an empty toilet paper roll. I have this technique of  mixing the paint on a palate (usually wax paper) and dipping the paper roll in the paint and leaving the circle impression multiple times all over the page. I love the way the colors blend together. It it usually dries differently than it looks wet...so there is this element of surprise.

Weekly Sketch Book

 This week in my 2013 Weekly Sketch Book, I took photos of my progression through the week. I had a dream that I was blind in my right eye for some reason but I could still see with both eyes open. The dream was on my mind for a few days until I came across the phrase ... "to turn a blind eye".  I took it as a sign to pay attention, face issues head on, and trust my gut. So this week I did just that. The page reflects my first instinct to add color and texture. The result is a completely different look from last week. 

Happy Mothers Day!

This is me and my Mom on my first birthday.  

They call my Mom "Grand Jan" because she is over the top with personality.  

If she's loves entertaining and meeting new people. She is the life of any gathering.  If I leave her anywhere for a few minutes I always return to find she has gotten to know a few people around her. She always looks beautiful and has something charming to say to everyone she meets.

It's because of her that I always try to
 put a little lipstick on ... even if I'm just going out for a minute.
I have a flair for the dramatic.
I still work on getting to know new people...I'm still shy at my core.

 When she and my Dad came to visit me in California one year, I left them for a few hours to go to work. When I returned I took them around town and I found out they had already met half a dozen people in town while I was at work. That's my Mom!

Love you Mom!

Journal Pages ... Words

Journal Pages...Shapes

Journal Pages...Pattern

I love the play with pattern in my journal. 

Sometimes I don't have anything profound to write in my journal. 

No deep insights. 

No words of wisdom. 

No stuff to work out.

Pattern plays the role of letting me express myself.

I remember  working on this page and enjoying playing with the honey comb stamp.

It's a great big stamp on a big square block with rubber stamp patterns on 4 sides.   I loved getting my ink pad really juicy with black ink and stamping over an over on this page and a few other pages in my journal (not shown here)

I also love what happens when you mix white gesso with acrylic paint. It smears in this really cool way and mutes the color making a milky impression. 

 I love that effect. 

I smear alot with my fingers to make room for images or words.

So here is a page in my journal...there are no words just color and pattern.

Weekly Sketch Book Journal Pages

I am inspired by Jenny Frith's Sketchbook Journal Pages and Sarah Bellemare's May Challenge to create something everyday.  Started to follow their process this week, for the first time, to experience their unique method of journaling on a regular basis.  I'm always looking for new ways to journal and this process looked really inspiring.

I found it really fun to prepare the pages for the week ahead of time...creating blocks and numbering the days of the week.  I had a blast pulling out all my stamps and letters. 

During the week I added color, stamps, images and words. It was really great. My journal is small enough to fit in my purse so I take it with me everywhere and journal on the go. 

This week I bundled up Dexter and headed over the hill to Half Moon Bay Beach for a few hours. It was great to watch the waves, smell the salty air and feel the wind in my hair.  

When I was a little girl I lived in Brazil and we would go to the ocean on really hot nights to cool off. 
Going to the beach is my favorite place to go to "cool off" mentally and clear my mind.  After my a visit to the ocean, things just fell into place at work and I got some projects at home completed. It was a really great week.

Cre8te Time for Creativity

 

The Craft and  Hobby Association has recently launched a "Cre8time" movement to encourage people to make time and devote it to their creativity.  They've created a place on facebook for everyone to share their experiences with a larger creative community.

I've joined the movement and I am completely inspired by all the people who have created group events to explore creativity in community. It's really inspiring.  It's a constant reminder to me to bring creativity in to my life in as many ways as possible.  

My creativity is how I communicate with the world. 

It's how I  find my voice.

It's how I express myself to others.

It's how I get the deeper understandings of who I am. 

When I look at the photo above, I remember that day, I had reached the creative moment in my process where I got lost in what was doing and I felt blissfully present to my accomplishments and the vibrant joy around me. 

It's one of the things I love about being creative...finding that blissful space that brings me back to the studio to create again and again.

Art Shop on ETSY...Red Dragonfly Studio

"Joyful Transcendence"

4"X6" canvas

Mixed Media 
On Etsy

I'm in the process of adding my original paintings on my Etsy shop.Lately I've been in a flurry of creative energy and I created about 6 paintings in the last few months that I want to share in the Etsy Art Shop. 

"Joyful Transcendence" is the first painting added to the shop. In the next few days I'll be adding more paintings, so feel free to check the site often.

Red Dragonfly Studio on Etsy

Taking Time at the Ocean

 

One of the things I love about living in California is the ability to get to the beach in 45 min. This week there was so much going on I felt a strong desire to go to the ocean and just sit. Watching the ocean always clears my head and gets me back to focusing on what really matters in my life. 

So when all my work was done, I loaded up the car with a beach blanket,  my journal, my camera,  water and Little Dexter and off we went to the beach. 

When we arrived it was sunny and absolutely beautiful.

I walked Dexter along the trail and we sat and watched the waves. 

It was breath taking. When it started to get dark, we headed back to the car. 

Half way down the trail we suddenly experienced a sand storm.  I had to walk quickly and most of it with my eyes closed to keep the sand from getting in my eyes. When we finally got to the car we were both covered in a thin layer of sand and salt. 

It was a beautiful adventure!

Journal Pages...Using my paint stash

Here are a few more pages from my 2013 Mini Journal. I love this page because I finally used some paint from my crazy collection of craft paint I got on sale at a fabric store.  

If you're like me...you love a good sale...particularly if it's for art supplies.  

A while back I came across a big bin of brightly colored paints on sale at a fabric store.  They had marked the paint down to less than a dollar. I was thrilled and I filled my basket with all my favorite colors. Suddenly the sales lady came by to tell me they where running a special sale that day for 75% off sale items.  I must have fainted because the last thing I remember was standing at the check out line will all the sale paint they had in the store. 
 

I was sooo proud of my wonderful stash. When I came home I packed them neatly in craft bins in my studio and there they sat for a year...unopened. 

So this page is a celebration of using those paints finally being used and 

all the other amazing supplies I have that I don't bring out nearly enough.